Together Forever
by obeytherandomness
Summary: Ed and Al are finally back together again, but things start to go wrong and Al has a few secrets that could be dangerous. Will the two of them be able to last through their journeys. Eventual slash.
1. Chapter 1

This story is supposed to take place after the Full Metal Alchemist movie The Conqueror of Shamballa.

PS I do not own Full Metal Alchemist or any of it's characters.

* * *

"We're going to break down the gate together," Alphonse smiled. There would be time for catching up later.

"Alright," Edward replied. He couldn't wait for this whole ordeal to be over so that he could finally spend time with his brother. "It's not going to be easy though."

"That's okay," Al responded happily. He would be happy for as long as it was that he was still by his older brother's side.

Edward tried to stand, but his fake leg gave out beneath him as soon as he put any pressure on it. "Damnit," he sighed as he fell back to the ground.

"What's wrong brother?" Al asked with his voice cracking like it always did when he was worried.

"Winry always makes the best," Edward sighed as he pulled his fake arm up to show Alphonse that he couldn't move it, "but they only work in that world. In this one, it's just a whole lot of metal."

"Oh," Al frowned. "Well how are we going to close the gate?"

"I don't know," Edward sighed. This was going to be much harder now that he couldn't move.

"Wait!" Al gasped suddenly.

"What?" Edward looked around, fully expecting for someone to be attacking them.

"Is that a rocket?" Al asked pointing to one of the test dummies that the other Al had made. Apparently he had brought them with him to prove his skills.

"You know what a rocket is?" Edward asked.

Al nodded even as he stood and walked towards the things. "I've never really seen one in person," he said, "but while I was looking for you, I did a lot of research and there were a few things in some libraries that I found that had plans for this kind of thing. None of the information actually worked out, but I thought it was still possible. Can we use this to break the gate?"

"That depends on how you plan to use it," Edward responded. He was already feeling proud of his younger brother for knowing so much and coming to a conclusion that not even he had thought of.

"If we aim it correctly," Alphonse looked up at the gate, "and we are able to hit one point in the gate, that point should break and the gate would be incomplete. It wouldn't be able to open again."

"Alright then," Edward said. "Bring the thing here."

Alphonse smiled and picked the thing up. It wasn't very heavy so he didn't struggle with it at all. "Here you go brother," he said as he placed the thing right in front of Edward.

"You're going to have to help me Alphonse," Ed said. "It takes more than one hand to start this thing."

"Ok," Al agreed as he took a seat next to his brother. "Just tell me what to do."

And Edward did. They set it up so that the rocket was aimed to the exact point that they were hoping it would destroy, the door, and Alphonse lit the rocket with Edward's instructions. The rocket flew to the gate and Edward was actually surprised when it actually exploded at its target. The door crumbled and was sucked into the portal along with the rest of the gate that had fallen as soon as the door was no longer there to support it.

"Can we go home now brother?" Alphonse asked. He wasn't surprised that it was so easy to say that because he had always only considered his home as a place right next to his brother. No matter where they are, no matter what they're doing, he is home with his brother.

"Yea," Edward smiled. "Yea, we can go home."

Alphonse gave the biggest grin that Edward had seen in years. Not even Alphonse Heindrich could match his little brother's expressions and quirks. He didn't even realize how much he missed them until he saw his little brother again, but now he was happy that he was never going to have to be deprived of them again. At least not if he had anything to say about it.

"Well then let's go," Alphonse said, already reaching forward to help Edward to his feet.

"Let me help," Noah came forward immediately. She had done enough bad things and now she was hoping to do something right. Her wish wasn't granted, however, when Alphonse turned to her and let out an ear-piercing scream.

"Alphonse!" Edward gasped. "What's wrong?" He only had to place his arm comfortingly on his brother's shoulder before he got a whole lapful of a completely terrified younger brother with a young face buried in his chest and surprisingly strong arms wrapped around his middle. This used to happen to him all the time when Alphonse had nightmares and he would have to coax whatever had frightened the boy out of him before he would calm down. "It's just Noah," he tried to say. "Doesn't she look a lot like Rose?" Alphonse shook his head slightly to tell Edward that that wasn't what had frightened him so Edward looked back at Noah to try to find something that would. She looked just like Rose to Edward, except for the hair, and there was nothing that really screamed that she was a bad person. Edward continued to look at her until he finally realized that the only anomaly on her was the blood stain that she had gotten from holding Heindrich's body right at the perfect height for it to be the first thing that Alphonse saw when looking at the woman.

"Is it the blood?" Edward asked silently.

Alphonse slowly nodded his head and buried himself deeper into his big brother's embrace and Edward tightened his hold.

Noah, realizing that her skirt was what had frightened Alphonse, immediately curled in on herself so that the bloodstain was tucked between her knees and her chest. Then she thrust her hands, which also had some trace of the blood on them, between her legs as well. "Edward," she said quietly so as not to scare Alphonse. When Edward looked up, she nodded towards Heindrich's dead body. It was behind Alphonse and she wanted to make sure that Edward wouldn't accidently force Alphonse to look at it. "Hey," she said as she turned her sights back to Alphonse. "Look. It's all gone now."

Alphonse shook his head. He didn't trust anyone except for his brother in these times when his fear overcame his body. Edward was the only one who would be able to get him to calm down.

"It's really not there anymore," Edward assured him as he ran his fingers through Alphonse's hair. It still took a moment, but Alphonse did eventually turn to face Noah. She smiled kindly at him, but she did not move because any movement could possibly loosen her skirt and make the bloody part slip out.

"Hi," Noah said kindly. "My name's Noah. It's nice to meet you."

Alphonse stared at her for a long moment before he finally nodded and said, "My name's Alphonse."

"I know," Noah said. "You're brother's told me a lot about you. He's always talking about you."

"Really?" Alphonse asked as he looked up at his older brother.

"Of course Al," Edward answered. "I missed you so much."

Al smiled and buried himself back into Edward's chest, but he didn't mind. He was just happy to have his brother back by his side.

* * *

Hey guys. sorry that the destruction of the gate was so quick, but that isn't what the story is really going to be about. I promise that none of the really important points are going to be quick like that.

Otherwise, I hope you enjoy this story. I would love any comments, questions, or requests that any of you come up with. Flames are greatly appreciated as well.

Thanks again for reading.


	2. Chapter 2

Alphonse Heindrich's funeral was miserable. Edward spent the whole time in the back of the crowd. He didn't want to see the tombstone. He didn't want to see his brother's name on that tombstone. He could probably find a few more Alphonse's in the graveyard, but this one was different. He spent a lot of time looking at Heindrich and seeing his own little brother's face. They were almost exactly alike in appearance. So much so that Edward actually had to constantly remind himself that Alphonse was standing right next to him throughout the whole funeral. This wasn't hard, though, because Alphonse spent the whole funeral clinging onto Edward's good arm just like he had been ever since they were reunited. Edward barely got a moment without his brother, but he really wouldn't have it any other way.

After the funeral, the two of them saw Noah off as she stepped onto someone's car. They chose to stay where Heindrich used to live and make that their home. They knew that sooner or later they were going to have to track down the uranium bomb, but, for now, they just wanted to stay together in one place and just be happy with being together.

"Big brother?" Alphonse asked after they had settled into their new home. They were having dinner and they sat across from each other at the table.

"What is it Al?" Edward asked in return.

"What did you do with the prosthetics that Winry made for you?" Al asked motioning towards the weaker prosthetic arm that Edward currently had hidden under fake skin.

"I kept both sets," Edward responded. "They're up in my room, but I can't use them."

"Can I see them?" Alphonse asked. "I may not be as good as Winry is, but she taught me how to make them so that I could make them for you when we were reunited. With a little knowledge of this worlds technology, maybe I can fix it."

"I don't know Al," Edward said skeptically. He had already tried to fix them once, but that hadn't really worked out.

"Please," Alphonse begged. He even pulled out the puppy dog look that Edward hadn't seen in years. The one that he had never been able to deny before and the one that he'll probably never be able to deny in the future. "I promise that I won't break them. I just want to try to help."

"Alright Al," Edward finally nodded. "You can go ahead and try, but don't get upset if it doesn't work."

"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you," Alphonse said happily. His voice cracked, just like it always did when he was really happy or really upset about something. Edward just smiled as he watched his brother grin in front of him. He had missed his brother so much and now everything that his brother did seemed new and yet oddly familiar.

"Can I start now?" Alphonse asked excitedly.

"At least finish your dinner," Edward laughed.

Alphonse quickly did just that and then he raced up the stairs and into Edwards room only to grab the prosthetics Winry made and the ones that were made in this new world and head straight to his own room. Edward laughed again at his antics, but didn't stop him. He supposed that, even though Al was only a year younger than him, Al had the right to still act somewhat childish since he lost so much of his life to being stuck in a suit of armor.

* * *

Edward saw Alphonse very rarely after that. Al only came down for long enough periods to eat and go to the bathroom, but at least he was doing that much. That is until the last day. Edward woke up at his usual time and made breakfast for the two of them. He called up to Alphonse for him to come down for breakfast, but received no response. He didn't really worry about it though. The two of them sometimes skipped breakfast in order to do something else. As long as Al ate lunch, Edward wouldn't worry about him.

However, when lunch rolled around, Alphonse still didn't come down to eat. Edward was officially worried. He quickly made his way up to Alphonse's room and knocked on the door. It was locked just like it had been for the time that Alphonse was working on the arm because Alphonse said that he wanted to surprise Edward. Ed respected that until now. He was not going to break down the door if he had to. Which apparently he did have to do since Alphonse still didn't answer.

The door gave way with a loud crash to reveal Al lying unconscious on the ground before him. Edward didn't waste a minute before he pulled Al up to put him on his bed only to find that his bed was filled with random machinery items that Ed didn't even recognize. "Damn it Al," Ed sighed under his breath even as he pulled him up into his arms and took him to his own bedroom. "Didn't you sleep at all while you were up here?"

Once he was able to get Alphonse situated in his own bed, Ed went about doing all the normal things in order to check Al's health. He found that his brother had a high fever and cursed both himself and Al for not taking better care of him.

"Brother?" Al moaned through the fog of sleep and fever.

"I'm here," Ed said soothingly as he smoothed Al's sweaty hair back and away from his forehead.

"Did you see it?" Al asked.

"See what?" Ed responded.

"In my room," Al muttered.

"I went in your room to get you yes," Ed nodded.

"You didn't see it?" Al was struggling to stay awake, but he wanted nothing more than to let his brother know about his accomplishment.

"See what?" Ed repeated.

"Your arm and leg," Alphonse replied. "I finished them."

"You did?" Ed's eyes widened and he couldn't help but to look out the door. He wanted to go and get the things and see if they worked, but he also didn't want to leave his younger brother's side when he was so sick. Fortunately or unfortunately, whichever way you want to look at it, Alphonse wanted the same thing.

"Can you try them on?" Al pleaded. He wanted to make sure that he had gotten everything right. He had helped Winry make the metal arms in their world, but things were different here so he wasn't sure that all the mechanics that he used were going to work.

"Maybe later," Ed smiled.

"Please," Al begged.

"Fine," Ed sighed. He had never been able to deny that puppy dog look that Al was giving him and it didn't help that he wanted to try them just as much as his brother wanted him to try them. He slipped out of the room ask quickly as he could and found the metal arm and leg sitting on the desk across from Al's bed. He grabbed them quickly and then made his way back to his room so that he could try them on in front of his brother.

This event probably would have been much more exciting if his little brother wasn't so sick, but Ed couldn't deny the little excitement that was making its way past his overwhelming worry. "Alright," he said once he had taken off his shirt and prosthetic limb and was holding the metal one just away from his shoulder. "Here I go." With a quick jerk and a shot of pain to his entire chest, the limb was in place. Ed tested it cautiously, twisting and turning his whole arm while he flexed his wrist and fingers. It responded to every command that he attempted without any sort of protest. "You did it!" he exclaimed at his still barely conscious brother.

"I added another feature too," Al responded proudly. He motioned for Al to come closer, which he did willingly, and pressed down on a hidden button on the arm after making sure that it wasn't face towards either of them. A blade the same size of the one that Ed always made with his alchemy sprang forth from the confines of the hand making him gasp. "You'll have to regularly sharpen it," Al explained with a yawn.

"How do I get it to go back in?" Ed asked.

"You just press the button again," Al smiled and Ed did just that with an admiring eye as the thing returned to its original state.

"You're amazing Al," Ed as he sat down on the bed and used his real hand to sooth Alphonse's hair again.

"What about the leg?" Alphonse asked.

"I'll put that one on later," Ed said. "Right now you need to rest. We don't like having sick little brothers."

"Okay," Alphonse agreed. He no longer had the strength to keep his eyes open let alone to keep himself awake.

Ed smiled at his little brother before heading downstairs to the flower shop next door. He needed some medicine, which he knew he didn't have, so he would ask Gracia to either loan him some or go out and buy him some so that he didn't have to leave Alphonse's side for too long.


	3. Chapter 3

"Oh Ed!" Gracia smiled when he entered her shop. "You're looking particularly happy today."

"My brother is amazing," Edward grinned proudly as he showed the woman his new mechanical arm.

"My goodness," she gasped at the sight of it. She had never seen anything like it. "That is amazing."

"He modified a previous design that wasn't working and made it work," Ed said. "He also fixed my leg. I'm not wearing it yet, which actually brings me to why I came down here. Apparently, my brother was so busy with my mechanical limbs that he neglected to pay attention to his own health. He has a fever."

"Oh dear," Gracia frowned. "Is there anything that I can do to help?"

"Do you happen to have any medicine that we could borrow?"

"Oh," Gracia said, "I'm sorry dear. I don't have any, but I can go out and get you some if you'd like. I know you probably don't want to leave him for too long when he's so sick."

"Thank you," Edward gave a relieved smile. It would have been better if she had the medicine, but the fact that she offered to go and get him some was relieving for him. He was already having a hard time being separated from his brother when he was healthy, let alone when he's sick. "I'll be sure to pay you back for it."

"Don't worry about it," she smiled even as she pulled on her coat and put a sign up that said she would return in a bit. "You just worry about taking care of Al."

"Thank you," Ed said. He would make it up to her, however. He knew the two of them really had meager amounts of money, especially since neither of them really had a job, but he would help her in the flower shop if he had to to make up for the money.

With that Gracia left and Ed went back up to sit next to his little brother's bed.

* * *

It didn't take long for Gracia to return with the medicine and a little bouquet of flowers as a get well soon gift. Edward thanked her and immediately brought both up to the room along with a glass of water.

"Wake up Alphonse," he said quietly as he shook the boy awake.

"Hmm," Alphonse groaned as he opened his eyes. He didn't even realize how much the fever was affecting him until he no longer had a project to focus on. His whole body felt heavy and cold even though he was sweating with blankets piled on top of him. "Have you tried on the leg yet?"

"I'll try it on in a minute," Ed responded immediately, "but only after you take your medicine."

"I don't like medicine," Alphonse whined. Ed couldn't help, but to smile at the reminder of their childhood when Alphonse got sick. Al never got sick when he was in that metal suit, and he wasn't there after that when he got sick. This was the first time and, as worried as the fever made him, he was happy to be with his brother for this.

"I don't like putting the mechanical limbs on," Ed countered easily, "but I still do it because it's better for me."

"Does it still hurt?" Al asked.

"Only a little," Ed lied.

"Do you promise to put the leg on after I take my medicine?"

"I promise," Ed responded.

"Okay," Al nodded resolutely. Ed helped him sit up in his bed just enough to allow the medicine to pass his lips without trouble, gave him the medicine and the water, and then helped him slip back into the bed. "Now its your turn," Al said immediately after he was settled.

"Alright, alright," Ed grinned. The leg was just as painful to put on as the arm was, but when he stood it felt perfect beneath him. Everything worked so much better than the leg that this world had created. "You're amazing Al," Ed praised and Al grinned. "You could sell these."

"I can't," Al frowned.

"Why not?" Edward asked suspiciously.

"I'm the only one who can make them," Al said.

"And why's that?"

Al bit his lip, but after a moment of contemplation he sat up, put the now empty glass in front of him, clapped his hands, put them on top of the glass, and it turned to sand. He gasped before falling back to the bed.

"You can still do alchemy?!" Ed's eyes were wide and he felt a little bit of jealousy well up in his stomach. Not that he would show it to his little brother.

"Yea," Alphonse nodded with a little difficulty, "but it's a lot harder to do."

That's when Edward realized that Alphonse's fever seemed to have worsened just from that one stunt. He frowned. How much was Al forcing himself to do just to make his own set? Al was right. They wouldn't be able to sell these no matter what. Ed would just be the happy benefactor of Al's design. "Promise me you won't use that unless you absolutely have to from now on," Edward said seriously.

"I promise," Alphonse responded even as his eyes closed for him to fall into a deep sleep. Ed wanted to wake him up and make sure that he actually knew what he was promising, but he knew that wouldn't be good for Al's health. He would just wait for him to wake up again and make him promise.


End file.
